I guess maybe I'm in the minority here, as I find it beneficial when my T self-discloses. It contributes to our therapeutic alliance and allows for achieving a mutualistic partnership in therapy. My T is eclectic with a strong humanistic streak, so it is within the context of his therapeutic approach to use this technique. He weaves his self-disclosure into our therapy very skillfully, yet still maintains his boundaries. Because of a past relationship with a therapist many, many years ago (as well as abandonment by him), self-disclosure was essential to me or I wasn't going to "play ball" in therapy with this T. Thank goodness he "got the message" fairly quickly and was able to provide. I had a dream early on that bonked us over the heads with this so my "message" was loud and clear. (I often use dreams to tell T what I need, or at least get the discussion started, as it is hard for me to just come right out and state it.)